Dulan: A Place Where You Can Find Peace

By Stella Grasso

My life hasn’t been very linear. Since switching to “travel mode,” I’ve been an artist-in-residence, a volunteer, and a reporter for NGOs. I’ve learned new skills, but the one constant has been my photography. And among the many places I’ve been to, only one has pulled me back each time I felt lost: Dulan in Taitung.

Why? In 2016, while working in Japan, I had to do a visa run. The previous year I’d been to and loved Taiwan, so I emailed Federico about volunteering at Cape Café. He told me that if I didn’t mind camping by the ocean, I’d be welcome. As it sounded like an adventure, I booked two weeks in Taiwan.

So here I was, in Dulan, the small village between mountains and a deep blue ocean that now I can call home. I helped out at the bar, made friends, and learned to surf. I was hooked!

My time in Taiwan was about to end when a typhoon hit Taitung and my flight was cancelled. That unplanned extra time, surviving a natural disaster with people who soon felt like family, transformed it from a quick visit into an extremely meaningful journey, a milestone which had a huge impact on my life.

Once I got back to Japan, I remember looking down at my dirty sneakers and comparing them with other shoes on the Tokyo metro. Like my old shoes among those new, elegant, and polished ones, I suddenly felt that I didn’t fit in. I was a sea creature out of the water, a wild animal in an urban jungle, and I found myself in tears.

In 2017, I returned to Cape Café, staying for three months. I started putting down roots, exploring by bike or by hitchhiking, and taking photos.

Then, after stints in Nepal, Italy, and Hong Kong, Taiwan called me yet again. After five long years away, ten days in Taitung were enough to let me feel at home again. The unconditional hospitality of friends, the warm welcome of locals who recognised me, the ocean, the misty mountains… I realized how much I’d missed them all.

At the end of June 2023, I started working as an instructor and photographer with Taitung Sailing School. Then, given the opportunity to rent a little hut by the ocean, I opened Green Tara, offering raw vegan desserts, coffee, and fermented drinks.

As a vegan, I’d always struggled to find places where I could satisfy my sweet tooth. So I created one! I wanted to offer what I’d been missing and share my lifestyle with a slice of cake. In everything I do, I try to minimize my impact on the environment. Green Tara was a chance for me to help others mindfully live in harmony with nature. I tried to make everything from scratch, using fresh seasonal fruits, local ingredients, and farmers’ goodies. There’s so much this blessed land has to offer! And in Taitung I found an amazing community of like-minded people who care about sustainability.

I faced various challenges including a typhoon. Despite the success of my products and support from the community, I recently decided to close that location, because it demands compromises I’m not willing to make anymore.

During those difficult times, I realized there’s another reason why I live here: I’m surrounded by people who genuinely care. Expats and locals coexist within a circle of solidarity which also works as a safety net. I feel so privileged to be part of it. Sailing is another experience I’m grateful for. Growing up beside the Mediterranean, it was an inaccessible elite sport. Now, thanks to Taitung Sailing School, it feels so natural to enjoy that dream.

In the meantime, I’ve been working on some photography projects which I’ll soon exhibit at The Other Woman Gallery as part of their artin-residency program. They let me stay in their Japanese-style hilltop house, immersed in forest with views over Dulan’s bay.

For me, photography is a visual conversation and also alchemy. Being an analog photographer means dealing with the chemical and physical printing process and experimenting with its multiple fascinating possibilities. I love being not only an artist but also an artisan. Lately, instead of using traditional chemicals, I’ve been experimenting with sustainable alternative processes, developing organic chemicals made from plants or food waste, and finding inspiration in photosynthesis.

Since I was a little girl, I’ve been very hyperactive, so it took me a while to adapt to the slow pace of Dulan. I’m an early bird and a night owl. After a long run at sunrise I take time for my coffee ritual and a healthy breakfast. In my free time, I like to go for shaved ice, cycle down to the sea and stare at Green Island, or collect driftwood. I love riding to Donghe to grab a steamed bun or to snorkel in my favorite coral bay.

Living in a small place means that everyone knows each other, and somehow Dulan has gathered an amazing bunch of people. I might hang out for live music and drinks, or join a jam or juggling session on the beach. Or just chill alone on my rooftop, look at the stars, and fall asleep to the sound of the waves.

I’m always challenging and reinventing myself. I’m often asked: Don’t you ever want to settle down? My answer, which used to be a firm negative, has recently evolved into: I’d love to find a base where I can keep my stuff, a place that I can happily leave and come back to. Might this be the place?

Sometimes I ask myself why, coming from an island in the Mediterranean, I keep returning to this island in the Pacific Ocean. And why Taitung? The more I learn about this place, its native tribes, and its being the cradle of Austronesian cultures, the more I feel connected to it. Could this spot, sandwiched between the ocean and the mountains, unconsciously remind me of my hometown in Sicily? Maybe the answer can be found in my own roots. As I learn about others’ history, I’m also discovering mine. Is here “home”? Well, it’s home today. Tomorrow? No idea! To quote Basho, “Every day is a journey, and the journey itself is home.”